July 27, 2007

China bans some poultry, pork imports over disease outbreaks

China has banned imports of poultry, pigs and their products from some countries due to outbreaks of diseases there, the Ministry of Agriculture said Thursday (July 26).

The move comes as China is suffering from a pork shortage due in part to an outbreak of blue ear disease, which has driven local pork prices up about 40 percent from the start of this year.

The government has banned direct or indirect imports of poultry and poultry products from Germany, the Czech Republic and the US state of Virginia due to outbreaks of bird flu there, the ministry said in a statement published on its Web site.

It has also banned any direct or indirect imports of pigs, wild pigs and their products from the former Soviet republic of Georgia due to an outbreak of pig pestilence, it said.

Earlier this month, China suspended imports of pork and poultry imports from 11 US production plants due to food security reasons.

Blue ear disease, also known as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, has infected 120,144 pigs in China since June, a nearly threefold rise from the number infected during the first five months of 2007, according to data issued Wednesday (July 25) by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Chen Weisheng, vice chief at the livestock husbandry department under the ministry, said the supply tightness in the pork market would only likely ease early next year.